‘Bridgerton’ Showrunner Teases Season 3: ‘We Wanted to Really Earn the Sex Scene’
Erin Strecker
Dearest readers: It’s Bridgerton Week at IndieWire. We’re celebrating the new season by diving deep on one of the best romance shows on TV.
Asked to sum up the new season of “Bridgerton” in one word, showrunner Jess Brownell landed on “cozy.”
“I think the feeling of this season is you’re drinking a hot cup of tea under a blanket and having a laugh,” she told IndieWire during a recent interview. “There’s that familiarity between the characters that just feels easy and cozy.”
Season 3 of Netflix’s smash hit focuses on the love story between Penelope Featherington (Nicola Coughlan) and Colin Bridgerton (Luke Newton). Unlike previous installments in which a new person enters the ton and shakes things up, fans are already familiar with the duo and have been particularly excited to watch Lady Whistledown’s main character moment finally unfold.
“Because it’s a friends to lovers story, there obviously is a lot of depth with these characters,” Brownell said. “So some of the tension is just about Colin having to earn Penelope this season, at least in the first half. And then when we get to the back half, the tension becomes a lot more about Pen’s big secret that’s hanging over the relationship in the form of Lady Whistledown.” (Season 2 left off with a ticking time bomb of sorts, as Penelope’s best friend Eloise discovered Pen is the person behind the dishy — and reputation-ruining — society newsletter.)
As they were scripting the fallout from that revelation, Brownell, who took over showrunning duties this season from original creator Chris Van Dusen, was not aware that — for the first time on the show — the season would be split in two, with the second half premiering in June on the streamer. But she’s hoping fans continue to stick with the story.
“There was a clear break at the end of Episode 4, which naturally is the midpoint of the season,” she explained. “So it makes sense that there would be a cliffhanger at that point. And I’m excited to see how it’s gonna work with it dropping in two parts. I hope [fans are] upset in an excited way. … The payoff is coming.”
In the meantime, Brownell is just excited for more romance on TV. The longtime writer (“Inventing Anna,” “Scandal”) has been pinching herself that she’s gotten to work in the genre for the last few years.
“Relationships, love, family, friendships, these are the things that carry the most weight in most of our lives,” she said. “It’s the thing that most of us spend most of our time thinking about. And they don’t always get foregrounded on television. So I think there’s something really relatable about that. I also just really love banter. I think especially awkward banter, which there’s a ton of this season, it’s super-fun to write and I think really fun to watch as well.”
Particularly fun is also the steamy fantasy elements that have helped make the show such a smash with viewers of all ages. And while this is a spoiler-free zone, it doesn’t seem too big of a leap to note that yes, at some point, sex on the romance show is going to happen — a fact that Brownell says the writers room is always thoughtful to make character- and time period-specific. (Without explicitly meaning to, Brownell gives a welcome, full-throated defense of why sex scenes in entertainment matter, despite what various internet commenters have to say.)
“A lot of times, even in the silent beats in the intimacy scenes, we are trying to show character growth, via their physicality,” she said. “But it all starts with talking to Nicola and Luke about what they’re comfortable with and planning from there. And because we had had those conversations, we were able to get exactly what we hoped from the scene because they knew what to expect. And they had a lot of practice time with the intimacy coordinator. So I’m really, really proud of a couple of our intimacy scenes this season.”
“The Regency period was so prescriptive about not being able to touch other people,” she later noted. “Women had to always wear gloves, and you didn’t shake a man’s hand; you didn’t hug. The moments of touch were huge. … [When two characters shake hands in the premiere], I think it’s one of the sexiest handshakes ever. So we’ve talked a lot about those moments, and we wanted to really earn the sex scene. And to get there, I think you need those smaller moments of electricity to build up.”
Of course, there is never just one love story going on among the ton. As “Queen Charlotte” viewers likely already suspect, Bridgerton matriarch Violet (Ruth Gemmell) will also be struck by Cupid’s bow this season — a plotline Brownell was ready to bring to the foreground.
“Shonda set up a great runner in the ‘Queen Charlotte’ spinoff about Violet wanting her garden watered,” she said. “We also have been talking in the room for a while about bringing in someone for Violet. She spent two seasons being very involved in her children’s love lives, and she will continue to be, but we wanted to make sure we weren’t sending the message that mothers have to live solely for their children. Mothers deserve to have romance and their own private lives as well.”
Nobody tell Lady Whistledown.
“Bridgerton” Season 3 – Part 1 premieres Thursday, May 16 on Netflix.
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